Page 80 of The Billionaire’s Contract Bride

“Damien’s mother discovered the offshore weapons network,” Augustus revealed, his throat working. “She was administered low doses of aconitine over several weeks until her heart gave out.”

“By Victor?”

“By someone acting on behalf of the family.”

“You?”

“No.”

“Why should I believe a single word you say?”

“Because if the same poison has reached Evelyn,” Augustus whispered, “then Damien’s empire is already compromised from within.”

Aria rushed back to the ICU floor.

Dr. Patel was waiting beside the nurse’s station with preliminary lab sheets. “We found aconitine metabolites in your mother’s blood panel.”

The exact same poison.

Damien heard the words as he stepped off the elevator behind them.

The ambient light in the corridor seemed to dim around him as his expression turned to ice.

“Seal the floor,” Damien commanded Lucien quietly. “No one enters or leaves this facility.”

Aria turned to face him, her chin held high despite the terror clawing at her throat. “The last time you gave that command, you locked me in a cage.”

Damien walked up to her, stopping inches away. He reached down and took her hand, his long fingers interlacing with hers—firm, unyielding, but careful.

“This time,” Damien said, his eyes burning with absolute focus, “you’re staying beside me while I tear them apart.”

Chapter Twenty: The Poisoned Gift

Every medication bottle, meal tray, floral arrangement, and glass of water that had entered Evelyn’s private ICU room was impounded for forensic analysis.

Damien converted a hospital executive suite into an emergency command center. Security personnel guarded every access point. Hospital staff were brought in for questioning one by one, while digital access logs covered the glass walls in endless lines of data.

Aria sat at the central table, a sharp wave of nausea twisting through her stomach. Whether it was caused by the pregnancy, raw terror for her mother, or the suffocating atmosphere of the room, she couldn’t tell.

Damien set a small packet of crackers and a bottle of mineral water beside her hands without making a scene.

“I’m not hungry,” she murmured.

“You haven’t eaten in six hours,” Damien replied, his tone quiet but firm.

“This isn’t the time.”

“Your body disagrees.” His dark eyes lingered on her pale face, searching her expressions with intense focus.

Aria unsealed the crackers simply to stop him from asking questions he wasn’t ready to hear the answers to.

At three in the afternoon, the lab results came back. The poison had been introduced through a specialized liquid nutritional supplement delivered exclusively to Evelyn. Each bottle had arrived looking factory-sealed.

“Someone drained the original contents, filled them with aconitine, and resealed the caps using industrial equipment,” Lucien reported, setting a thermal bag on the table.

“Who had physical custody during transit?” Aria asked.

“Pharmacy staff, dietary services, two ICU nurses, Dr. Patel, and security during transport.”